In 1990, when the town of Oka decided it was going to allow the expansion of a golf course on disputed territory —including on a Mohawk burial ground — people living in the neighbouring Mohawk community of Kanesatake rose up in defence of what they said was their land. They inform and inspire, build community, and empower others to stand up for what they know By employing this Warrior archetype, Indianness was aligned against modernity and away from Canadian, or Québécois, nationalism positing the Warrior as American. National Identity and the Conflict at Oka: Native Belonging and Myths of Postcolonial Nationhood in Canada. Golden: North American Press, 1993. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she … Canadian filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin has made documentaries about the Oka Crisis, including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993) and Rocks at Whiskey Trench (2000). Audience Relations, CBC P.O. To compound the issue, the Oka municipality did not consult the band when approving the development and as a result, prior to the crisis, in the summer of 1989, thirteen hundred residents signed a petition to stop the development. In this sense Obomsawin neither disentangles the Warrior Society and the mainstream media’s representation of the Warrior, nor conflates the Mohawk people with the Warrior Society. Women Make Movies Contains brief bio and two of her films can be purchased here. From the Oka Crisis, during which a group of Mohawk engaged in a 78-day standoff with Canadian police and military in defense of their land, to the story of First Nations Vietnam War veteran Eugene Benedict, Obomsawin has been there documenting, educating, and … These and two additional documentaries on the crisis were all produced by the National Film Board of Canada: Christine Welsh directed Keepers of the Fire (1994), which documents the role of Mohawk women during the crisis, and Alec MacLeod created … Oka Crisis documentary screened in Kanien’kéha. The Quebeçois also already occupying a multivalent position within Canada with a history of oppression and racism that parallels the complex situation of the Mohawk people, who happen to be situated not only under the jurisdiction of Quebec, but also straddling the U.S./Canada border. She was detained for six full days. Back home, Quebec Aboriginal Affairs Minister Geoffrey Kelley said provincial and federal governments have appreciated since Oka that First Nations groups need to be consulted when development projects affect their territory. Utrecht, Holland, November 12, 2017. Twenty-five years after … Volume 14, Issue 3 / March 2010 Twenty-five years on, the legacy of the Oka Crisis for many of those who experienced the tension west of Montreal is a greater awareness of indigenous issues. The problems of land disputes, and national belonging are fleshed out in Spudwrench: Kahnawake Man by way of the long history of the Mohawks working state side as ironworkers for several generations. The women and the men repeat across all four films the importance of the land, and their duty to protect it. As its title suggests, the film ties the 1990 abuse of Mohawk rights to a history of colonial land theft and abuse of power, going all the way back to the foundation of the city of Montreal. This issue is central in Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance and the other films. In this short documentary Obomsawin trains her lens on the role of the women who were involved in the seventy eight day standoff, specifically focusing on Kanehtiisota’s role. It may seem irresponsible for children to be placed at the center of a volatile situation however, Kanehtiisota strongly affirms that for the Kanawake mothers, it was important that their children not be hidden from the legacy of violence that has plagued the Mohawk people. The names and dates on the each memorial were recognizable and tied to the people of Kanawake who have spoken about their history as ironworkers. Lewis posits that Obomsawin has 1) focused her lens towards challenging the formation of public memory and history, 2) on the place of Mohawk women in Kanehsatake, Kahnawake and Oka, 3) on the political and cultural resilience of the Mohawk people looking specifically at cultural creativity and daily life, 4) and finally to expose the systematic oppression and the entrenched racism in government policy (79-80). As a defender of his people’s culture and traditions, he was known as “Spudwrench” during the 1990 Oka crisis. Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin brought viewers right to the front lines of Quebec’s Oka Crisis and often crossed them in this award-winning documentary. The montage sequence in Spudwrench is edited over a folk song sung in Mohawk by a woman. The children, including Kanehtiisota’s two boys, were released to family. The Warrior image disrupted “the assumptions about Canadian fairness to ‘their Indians’ that many continued to hold” (Kalant, 187). Kalant explains that racism similar to that exhibited at the Mercier Bridge could be found throughout Canada and was not particular to Quebec (188). She strongly asserts, “Now we resist.” Kanehtiisota begins her story by telling how there are no borders within the Mohawk region. These encroachments of modernization have damaged and changed the wildlife and clear-cut straight across Mohawk trap lines. Obomsawin’s ability to recover Mohawk history specific to Kanawake makes for an interesting case study in the Mohawk community’s marginalization, their long history of colonial oppression and on-going land disputes. Warrior Society combined these traditions, as it was the warrior’s role to embody the responsibility of defending their people (York and Pindera, 171). She was detained 4 days longer than the other women. A strong rope is the combination of countless indispensable threads –not threads that are pulled apart. 2nd Editon. Essays   She was there with her camera, and with army helicopters and madness swirling all around, she was an apparition of hope. Spudwrench: Kahnawake Man lays bare the history of the Mohawk ironworkers who found steady employment doing hard labour, essentially building New York City until the mid 1970s. Rather, struggle and resistance has been the long suffered history of the Mohawk people since Columbus arrived centuries ago. Obomsawin, as a filmmaker working for the National Film Board of Canada, was allowed to cross the barricades and document the standoff from the perspective of the Mohawks involved in this historic land dispute. In a similar sense there is no Mohawk word for Warrior. I agree with Lewis’ identification of four threads that run across Obomsawin’s work. Simon said the 25th anniversary of the crisis has forced difficult memories to the surface including what he called human-rights abuses he alleges his people suffered at the hands of the provincial police. In response to the council's decision, Mohawks barricaded a dirt road leading to the golf course. Oka Crisis - Wikipedia Notable Abenaki from this area include the documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin (National Film Board of Canada). Furthermore, the Mohawk connection to the land and the past and future generations is another thread across these four films. The words of the song are not translated, allowing the issue of language to surface in a subtle but striking manner. Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin: behind Mohawk lines, LISTEN: Mohawk barricades went up 25 years ago, CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices. This doc profiles a key element of the 1990 Oka crisis in which the Mohawk communities of Kahnawake and Kanehsatake stood against the Canadian military and Canadian citizens in a stand-off … This statement is of note, as the Oka crisis actually occurred on the south end of the Mercier Bridge in the area known as Kanehsatake and the town of Oka, whereas Kahnawake is situated on the North side of the bridge. On October 2nd, Kanehtiisota is released after her lawyer produces her birth certificate to the St. Jerome’s court judge. Write your comment here Cancel reply. To compound the problem, the local French language radio enticed people to gather and riot. However, I find that there are more than four threads and it seems Obomsawin has carefully woven the threads together. Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance. After a peaceful walk out was arranged on the 26th of September, Kanehtiisota was arrested along with 19 other Mohawk women. 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